1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a system for releasing an article such as a munition or store from an aircraft and more particularly to such a system in which the release system includes a sway brace with claws therein top control the movement of the store or munition when it is released.
2. Description of the Related Art
Prior air bomb racks often use extending pistons to force a munition or store from the weapons bay of an aircraft. Most prior art designs use a sway brace or cradle built into the structure of the rack to restrain the munition or store from lateral or pitching motion. On ejection, the pistons force the store or munition away from the aircraft, but the sway braces remain on the rack, Thus, there is no restriction on the yaw, pitch, or roll motion of the store or munition during ejection. This is in view of the fact that the item being ejected is still subject to aerodynamic forces while the ejection process is being carried out and is no longer being controlled by the sway braces. Certain prior art sway braces control systems have been developed which include the constraining sway brace on the piston assembly. This extends the yaw and pitch constraint until the article being deployed has left the influence of the pistons. Such a system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,904,323 issued on May 18, 1999 to Jakubowski, Jr., et al. While this prior art device is an improvement, it still does not assure the contact of the released article with the sway brace.